Cache Research? Will this work?

[swizzle]

I had an idea and thought it might be worth a shot. I have an 1868 map of my town. It shows little black squares of all the peoples house and the names of the house owner. For example J.P. Jones. Everyone I've seen so far is missing the first name. Well anyways. I was thinking that I should walk through the local cemetary and look at every headstone and look for the dates that end in the years 1860 to 1870. Match those names up to the names on my maps. This would give me the age of the person at the time of death and a date to search the local newspapers if I can find them back that far. If I find a person that died suddenly then I might stand a good chance of finding a cache on that property. I think it would save a lot of time searching every single newspaper looking for that one tramatic event that happens in town once a year or so. I could also narrow out the people that are between say 60 to 70 knowing that they are letting someone know where their cache is hidden in case they die. Anyone over 70 might possible be in the stages of that oldtimers disease and may do weird things to hide money or in some cases even throw it away. Before my gram passed away she threw away a hearing aid and hide twinkies in her socks in her sock drawer. Can anyone else add any other cache hunting tips or tricks. What do you guys and gurls think? Will this work? Swizzle

 

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[Siegfried Schlagrule]

depending on the age of your town determine when the first bank opened up. Anyone who died before that date may have had a cache. Brick costs money. Brick homes had owners who had money. Business owners had money. Find out who they were and where they lived. reagrds, siegfried schlagrule

 

[Kentucky Kache]

I know I've said this before, but find those people (on the map) in
the census records. What is their real and personal values?
If you find some with alot of money, then, after their death, check for the records of their children in the next census. If the money seems to dissapear, you have to wonder where it went. Is it buried?
Be sure to check wills.

 

[EDDE]

also check census records see which families were well to do
then when the bread winner died they ended up in the poor house (cause he hid all the money away)
doh im a dope jbot said that ........

 

[Kentucky Kache]

I didn't say they would hide all the money away. But, people did hide money back then. Ask any treasure hunter.

 

[swizzle]

I have a hard time locating census records. I've found some online but they are for 1 year and it doesn't mess with my maps. Swizzle

 

[Kentucky Kache]

Courthouse and Library. If they haven't copied the microfilm to book form, they will show you how to use the microfilm machine.

You can also visit your state archives at your capitol.

 

[Gypsy Heart]

Alot of the cemetaries are online now...might save you some time.I would also type in their name to google and your town....might pulll up an obit or other info.

 

[Shortstack]

I have a hard time locating census records. I've found some on-line but they are for 1 year and it doesn't mess with my maps. Swizzle

Federal census' are taken every 10 years. There are copies available on the web for everyone of them except for 1890 because that year's census records were lost in a fire in the Fed offices. One of the very best research investments you can buy is a year's library card to Godfrey Memorial Library in Middletown, CT. It's $35 a year and can be paid with PayPal. The on-line address is www.Godfrey.org Your profile says you live in upstate New York. Well, this library has the best on-line access you'll find. Millions of pages of old newspapers from New York, CT, NH, VT, RI, PA, MA, ME, etc. back into the 1700's. Check it out.

 

[TreasureTales]

I have a hard time locating census records. I've found some online but they are for 1 year and it doesn't mess with my maps. Swizzle

Get in touch with your local historical and/or genealogical societies. The volunteers with those organizations are usually very willing to help someone research names, dates and locations. You might not want to tell them you're a treasure hunter, just say you're interested in history - not lying but also not opening yourself up to ridicule.

Colleges and universities usually have wonderful map collections, census records (on microfilm), newpapers (on microfilm), etc. - often for the entire state.

As SS said, definitely try to determine when the first bank opened up in your town and then search for records for people who died BEFORE that date. Even after a bank was opened, people would put a little aside for a rainy day - usually right where they could keep an eye on it. Women would often do that because that was a time when women had little autonomy, so they had "egg money" that they would usually hide in the chicken house. And kids would sometimes hid a few cents or toys just like they do today. Find an old house or lot you can legally detect and then go for it, whether the research looks promising or not, because you never can tell what lies beneath the soil - just a few inches down.

You've got the right idea, do the research before wasting time and money running around wildly. [Myself, I like to run around wildly, but to me that's part of the adventure. LOL] Good luck!

 

[Prober]

Hey kid,

Perth don't even have a bank does it?

Prober

 

[swizzle]

Yup we have a bank now. As a matter of fact it was robbed last year and they caught the guy the next day. I thought I found a cache this weekend but it was only a large thick washer. It was in the same location that my uncle buried his cache of marbles when he was a kid. He's now almost old enough to retire. I have it narrowed down to a 20x20 foot patch of ground but I think its a little deeper then I first thought it would be or else one of the other boys dug it up and never told him about it. Swizzle